Willis Faber and Dumas
Ipswich, United Kingdom · 1975
Photo · Photo by Ken Kirkwood
A seminal precedent for the suspended glass curtain wall, demonstrating how a structural glass envelope can follow irregular urban boundaries and dissolve into transparency at night.
- What we like about this project
- The glass panels are suspended from the top roof slab and jointed with patch fittings rather than traditional mullions.
Materials
- glass
- structural-silicone
- steel-patch-fittings
- concrete-slabs
Visual identifiers
- undulating-glass-facade
- suspended-glass-wall
- curved-curtain-wall
- glowing-interior
- patch-fittings
Style tags
- high-tech
- modernist
- structural-expressionism
Visual tags
- high-tech
- transparency
- curved-glass
- night-photography
- office-building
- structural-glass
- Geometry
- A continuous, undulating glass curtain wall wraps around a deep-plan floor plate, following the irregular street grid with smooth, sweeping curves.
- Facade system
- Suspended glass curtain wall system using patch fittings and glass fins.
- Structural guess
- Reinforced concrete columns and flat slabs with a perimeter suspended glass system.
- Spatial scale
- Three-story commercial building with deep floor plates and a prominent street-level presence.
- Lighting
- Dusk lighting with a deep blue sky contrasting against the warm, yellow-green internal fluorescent and spot lighting that washes the floor slabs.
- Atmosphere
- A luminous, futuristic beacon in the historic streetscape, emphasizing transparency and structural lightness.
- Environmental context
- Urban street corner with a curved roadway in the foreground, showing light trails from passing traffic.
- Spatial experience
- The building envelope dissolves at night, transforming from a dark, reflective surface by day into a highly transparent, glowing showcase of the internal office floors and structural columns.
- Composition rhythm
- Horizontal bands of concrete floor slabs alternate with continuous, vertically jointed glass panels.
- Style reading
- High-Tech Architecture
- Program
- Commercial office headquarters
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture
- Materials
- glass, structural-silicone, steel-patch-fittings, concrete-slabs
- Visual identifiers
- undulating-glass-facade, suspended-glass-wall, curved-curtain-wall, glowing-interior, patch-fittings
- Style tags
- high-tech, modernist, structural-expressionism
- Visual tags
- high-tech, transparency, curved-glass, night-photography, office-building, structural-glass
- Geometry
- A continuous, undulating glass curtain wall wraps around a deep-plan floor plate, following the irregular street grid with smooth, sweeping curves.
- Facade system
- Suspended glass curtain wall system using patch fittings and glass fins.
- Structural guess
- Reinforced concrete columns and flat slabs with a perimeter suspended glass system.
- Spatial scale
- Three-story commercial building with deep floor plates and a prominent street-level presence.
- Lighting
- Dusk lighting with a deep blue sky contrasting against the warm, yellow-green internal fluorescent and spot lighting that washes the floor slabs.
- Atmosphere
- A luminous, futuristic beacon in the historic streetscape, emphasizing transparency and structural lightness.
- Environmental context
- Urban street corner with a curved roadway in the foreground, showing light trails from passing traffic.
- Spatial experience
- The building envelope dissolves at night, transforming from a dark, reflective surface by day into a highly transparent, glowing showcase of the internal office floors and structural columns.
- Composition rhythm
- Horizontal bands of concrete floor slabs alternate with continuous, vertically jointed glass panels.
- Style reading
- High-Tech Architecture
- Program
- Commercial office headquarters
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture